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Born in 1890 in Hamburg, Ruckteschell joined the German navy in 1910. In 1916, with the rank of Oberleutnant zur See, he transferred to the U-boat Arm. He served as Watch Officer on U-3 and U-57, before being given his own command in July 1917, first of UB-34, then in March 1918, of U-54. He earned a reputation as an overly aggressive commander, which caused him to be placed on a black-list of officers the Allied powers considered to have breached the laws of war. This contrasted with his artistic and cultured nature, since he was an avid reader, loved classical music, and was a student of Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy.

After the end of World War i, he left Germany to escape the harassment suffered by former submarine crewman by the victor nations. He lived in Sweden and Lapland for several years, earning a living as a lumberjack and a surveyor, before returning to Germany in the early 1930s.

Von Ruckteschell was recalled to duty in the Kriegsmarine in 1939 and given command of an auxiliary minelayer. He next took command of the Widder and sailed her into the Atlantic Ocean on 6 May 1940, commencing a five-month cruise that would sink or capture ten enemy merchant ships. When he brought Widder into port at Brest, he refused the Naval Command's order to take the ship to Hamburg, because the passage through British controlled was too risky. Instead, he assumed command of the commerce raider Michel for her first cruise (9 March 1942 to 1 March 1943), during which he captured or sank fifteen ships. Von Ruckteschell was relieved when he arrived in Japan at his own request for health reasons.

Ruckteschell was the subject of one of the first war crimes investigations undertaken by the British Admiralty. It was alleged that on several occasions Ruckteschell had continued firing on merchant vessels after they had surrendered. This contravened the laws of naval warfare, the Admiralty requested that Ruckteschell and his crew members be detained for interrogation.

Ruckteschell spent the last years of the war on the staff of the German naval attaché in Japan. He was eventually located in an internment camp near Kobe and was back to Germany for trial.

The British charges submitted to the United Nations War Crimes Commission claimed "at least one clear case of mass murder and several equally clear cases of the sinking of vessels whose crew were on the vessels when they were fired on, and were not picked up subsequently when on boats, rafts and in the water."[1]

1. Regarding SS Davisian, which was attacked on 10 July 1940 by Widder.

The charge was that he continued to fire after the radio was knocked out and the signal to surrender acknowledged. It was charged that the Widder '​s gunners continued to fire for eight minutes after a signal was sent indicating that the Davisian '​s crew was abandoning ship.

The defence maintained that no signal had been seen or received and that three seamen on board the Davisian were seen heading towards her ship's gun.

The charge was that Ruckteschell fired on the lifeboats, and failed to ensure the crew's survival. Able Seaman Robert Tapscott of the Anglo Saxon, although unavailable to attend Ruckteschell’s trial, testified that the Widder had opened fire on the boats and rafts as they moved away from the sinking ship.

The defence maintained Rucktescehll was firing over their heads at the ship, and that the boats attempted to escape and were lost sight of in the dark.

Ruckteschell was found guilty of "not providing for the safety of the crew".

The trial was held in Hamburg between 5 and 21 May 1946. Ruckteschell chose as his defence counsel Dr. Otto Zippel, who had earlier represented Karl-Heinz Moehle. Zippel tried to define the limitations of international law, called VizeadmiralBernhard Rogge as an expert witness, and questioned the testimony of the British sailors. In closing, he asserted that "the law has recognized that in matters of sea even clever people are more liable to commit an error than in other walks of life".[1]

The British military court convicted Ruckteschell on three of the four charges - Charges 1, 2, and 3 were upheld, while Charge 4 was rejected - and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. Three years were later remitted from his sentence on 30 August 1947, when he was acquitted of one more of the charges.

The trial raised serious concerns about further war crimes trials involving naval affairs, since only one junior naval officer had sat as a judge during the trial, and army officers could not be expected to have a good knowledge of naval warfare. Zippel stated during the appeal that "a court composed of experienced sea officers would have arrived at a different judgment in the case". Royal Navy officers acknowledged that there was a real chance of a miscarriage of justice and the naval authorities actually discouraged further naval-related war crimes trials because of the difficulty of finding suitable naval officers to take part in them. Ruckteschell's trial was the last held under the Royal Warrant on behalf of the Royal Navy.[1]

Helmut von Ruckteschell died in the Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel prison on 24 June 1948, shortly after he had been informed that he was going to be released due to his deteriorating heart condition. He was 58 years old.

1 Oak Leaves with Navy Group Command West. 2 Knight's Cross on Widder (HSK-3), Oak Leaves on Michel (HSK-9). 3 Knight's Cross with the 2. Räumbootsflottille, Oak Leaves with the 8. Räumbootsflottille. This along with the ? (question mark) indicates doubt regarding the veracity and formal correctness of the listing.
see also List of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipients of the Kriegsmarine